Øya Festival boss talks partying, Palestine, progressive values and future headliners
Øya Festival boss Claes Olsen has spoken to NME about putting on one of Europe’s most acclaimed and progressive festivals for 26 years at a time of challenging world politics.
Last week saw the Oslo event complete its 26th edition, with headline sets from Chappell Roan kicking off her summer 2025 run in theatrical style, Charli XCX bringing her ‘Brat’ era to a triumphant close, Queens Of The Stone Age making a glorious return after being forced to pull out last year, and Girl In Red completing her journey from the festival’s smallest stage to being this year’s Saturday headliner.
There was also a wealth of other international and Norwegian talent via the likes of Fontaines D.C., Kneecap, Wet Leg, Beth Gibbons, Lola Young, Heartworms, Kelly Lee Owens, Khruangbin, Mk.Gee, Pom Poko, Anna Of The North and many more.
The festival has always strived to promote homegrown artists alongside huge names from across the world, traditionally elevating a Norwegian act to headline the closing night every year. Not only that, but they’ve spearheaded a number of issues – running a gender-split line-up under the radar more than most events in Europe, as well as encompassing values around sustainability into how they run things.
Olsen, who has been putting on Øya since its inception in 1999, said that their ethos had always been a simple one.
“We just wanted to go to the festival that we wanted to go to ourselves, and to follow our hearts in programming the artists that we like,” he told NME. “We’re a group of 10 people in the programming committee, always looking into new music and trying to be on top of things. We try to never compromise and would never take on acts to do people favours. These are the acts that we’d prefer to see ourselves.”
He continued: “In the beginning, it was mainly just to support the local music scene for the first couple of years. We were all running small venues and saw that the other festivals in Norway at the time were about the big international acts, with just some small Norwegian acts starting the show. We wanted to turn it upside down.
“That was the beginning. In 2003 we got very much into sustainability, then over the years that grew for our ethos to be about inclusivity, equality, anti-discrimination and all these other aspects.”
This year also saw protests outside the gates of Øya, calling for a boycott due to the involvement of KKR – a global investment firm that holds significant investments in companies with ties to Israel amid the country’s ongoing conflict with Palestine. The company owns Superstruct Entertainment, which owns and runs many international festivals – also causing controversy for Field Day, Tramlines, The Mighty Hoopla, Benicàssim, Sónar.
Øya have insisted that none of the revenue it receives is being used in “activities that contribute to maintaining Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine”, and instead ploughed ahead to platform the issue. The likes of vocal Israel critics Kneecap, Fontaines D.C. and Mary Wallopers were among a raft of names using their time onstage to speak out.
Kneecap even went as far as to lead a chant of “fuck KKR”, as well as calling out the Norwegian government for “enabling genocide”.
Check out our full interview with Olsen below, where he talked about giving Palestine a platform, highlighting local talent, plans for next year, why you should go, and dream headliners for the future.
NME: Hello Claes. Øya seems to do things quite quietly. You’d had a gender-split line-up for years when other major events started to amplify that they were starting…
Claes Olsen: “We try not to brag too much about all the things we do – let other people do that! On sustainability, we’ve won a lot of awards and stuff, but we’re not out loud about everything we do. Last year, for instance, we went fully vegetarian at the festival. The plan was to do it without anyone knowing about it up front and just noticing good food, but then there were some local journalists that got hold of it, and then it blew up to be this big thing. We were asked to be on debate programmes on national TV about why we didn’t want to have meat. We thought it was very strange that it would be a controversial thing in 2024.
“We do a lot of charity stuff too, but we keep quiet about it.”
A lot of festivals and big companies make excuses about not doing those kinds of things. How easy is it?
“It’s not easy. Everything becomes more expensive, but I don’t think I’d want to do it if I had to compromise a lot. The passion is there, and that’s our drive to do it. You can’t lose that. Of course, it’s more and more difficult, and then money and politics become involved. It’s not easy.”
Tell us about the protestors outside and your stance on KKR. You’ve basically said that it makes sense to continue with the festival and make it a platform for Palestine?
“Definitely. We feel like a music festival like us should be the perfect platform to have artists and ourselves express values and opinions about a lot of topics – especially on Palestine. We’ve seen a lot of artists do it, and we’ve put a lot of effort into taking a clear stance. That’s important.”
“We’ve got a stand on Palestine and we printed thousands and thousands of bracelets to be sold for good causes in Gaza. There’s a mixture of people behind it. There’s a Norwegian doctor called Mads Gilbert who goes to Gaza twice a month and has been doing so for 25 years. He came to us and said that we needed solidarity and to stand together in this cause instead of being divided. He knows so much more about this topic than we do, and taught us so much. To stand together and help the people in Gaza is so much more important than anything else at the moment.”
Over the last 26 years, how have you found the international audience growing at Øya?
“We’ve never marketed the festival outside of Norway, but still it’s like five to seven per cent of fans coming from abroad – the UK, Germany, Japan. It’s easier now because the Norwegian Krone is so weak; it’s not as expensive as it used to be.”
What would you say to a music fan, awaiting a summer festival season without Glastonbury, about what they’d get from Øya that they can’t get anywhere else?
“We have a very unique festival site of amphitheatres where you can get very close to the stages. You can stay very close by in the city; there are a lot of venues that you can go to afterwards. It’s the whole package.
“People always tell us that there’s more space, it’s easy to get around, and you can get very close to big artists.”
Have you booked any talent for next year?
“Yes, we already have two headliners confirmed.”
Any clues?
“Not now, not yet! It’s really cool to have that. It’s looking very good.”
Could one of those acts be Oasis?
“I don’t think so! I would love to – I went to see them in Manchester – but they’re too big for us.”
Is there anyone on the line-up this year that you’d like to see stepping up to headline in the future?
“I like to see bands grow organically to that. There are a few smaller acts that I think are really, really good. We have a great story with Girl In Red, who played our demo stage in her first year [in 2018] and now she’s headlining; she’s been touring all over the world since. I hope that happens again. After seeing Rabo, I think he could step up to headline in future.
“People always ask, ‘Who’s the next big thing?’ You never know. In April last year, when we started talking to Charli XCX and Chapell Roan, we weren’t discussing headline slots in the beginning, then things just grew and grew. Sadly for us, they didn’t confirm before they got so big so it got more expensive, but on the other hand they did such a big production and their teams played it well.”
Who are your bucket list dream headliners?
“Me personally? It would be Depeche Mode, but I’m pretty sure we can’t fit in their production.”
Thanks, Claes. Anything to add?
“Come to Øya – it’s not as expensive as you think.”
Øya Festival returns to Toyenpark in Oslo from August 12-15, 2026. Visit here for more information.
The post Øya Festival boss talks partying, Palestine, progressive values and future headliners appeared first on NME.
What's Your Reaction?
Like
0
Dislike
0
Love
0
Funny
0
Angry
0
Sad
0
Wow
0
